Feds: 'Apostle' was a serial sexual predator

A federal prosecutor told an Orlando jury that Luis "Tito" Morales — a self-proclaimed "Apostle" who runs his church out of a Volusia County home — used his position to sexually abuse children under the pretense that the acts would make them prophets.

Calling Morales a "serial sexual predator," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gable told jurors during her opening statement Tuesday that Morales, the "Apostle" of En Fuego for Jesus, found victims through his ministry.

"He exploited their faith and he exploited their vulnerability as children," Gable said.

Morales is charged in a six-count indictment accusing him of child-sex trafficking, and transporting a child in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

Gable laid out her case for jurors, explaining Morales' involvement with four victims, how he gained their trust, and how he groomed them for abuse. Morales told the children he wanted to "break them" in order for them to be prophets, and they had to keep quiet about the sexual abuse.

The courtroom was closed to the public when the victims began testifying Tuesday, a measure Gable requested from the court. But in her opening statement, Gable told the jury that the first victim to testify would be "T.M.," whose family joined Morales' church in 2009.

Gable said Morales began to touch the girl inappropriately, saying that "a good prophet allows him to do these things."

Morales took the child, her siblings, and their uncle to Connecticut so they could record a Christian music album, and he abused the girl there. During the trip, "T.M." also interacted with co-defendant Rebeca Rivera, another En Fuego prophet.

Gable told jurors Rivera told "T.M." she had to give herself to the "Apostle."

When they returned to Ormond Beach, Gable said, Morales again fondled "T.M." and tried to have sex with her. He watched her shower, and the girl told authorities she was humiliated.

The prosecutor detailed the other instances and victims, including one who said she was sexually abused by Morales on an airplane when he and his wife took her to the Virgin Islands.

But defense attorney Kenneth Weaver said Morales disputes all the sexual abuse allegations made against him. Weaver told jurors in his opening statement there is no physical evidence, no DNA, no admissions of guilt and no witnesses who saw the alleged sex acts.

He called the government's allegations, "absolutely outlandish."

Prosecutors said that through En Fuego, Tito Morales and his wife Linda Morales tried to recruit people throughout the U.S., Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico and Honduras.

The Orlando federal case isn't the first run-in Tito Morales has had with law enforcement.

In the late 1980s, Morales was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling cocaine.

Years later, after he moved to Florida, two other girls accused Morales of molesting them at his Ormond Beach home. He was arrested, but the case was dropped.